Attention tool
Attention Contracts
A tool for deciding what gets your attention before the algorithm, anxiety, and group chats start bidding.
What this tool does
Attention Contracts are simple agreements with yourself about when and how you will consume feeds, news, messages, research, and other inputs. They protect the raw material of your life.
Create one no-feed hour. Use the phone only for time, weather, calendar, and actual humans.
Bad-week version
Use it when
- Mornings start with doom and never recover.
- You sit down for one task and wake up in a comment section.
- You need gates around inputs.
How to use it
- Choose the attention leak.
- Define the window: when, how long, and what counts as done.
- Add a gate: app removal, no-feed hour, charger location, or browser-only access.
- Decide the replacement action.
- Track the aftermath: clearer, heavier, angry, empty, inspired, hunted.
Worksheet version
Copy these prompts into a notebook, notes app, spreadsheet, or the nearest envelope that is already judging you.
Common traps
- Calling doom scrolling civic responsibility.
- Using willpower where a gate would work.
- Keeping poison because it is popular.
Related tools
Read the book
Want the whole system?
Attention Contracts is one handle from Build a Life That Doesn't Eat You Alive. The full book connects it to habits, boundaries, money, work, rest, and bad-week repair.